Vehicle lifting and traversing device



July 2, 1963 B. WALKER 3,095,936

VEHICLE LIFTING AND TRAVERSING DEVICE Original Filed Feb. 17, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 /O Z L 44a ,2 I; 6 53 43 Q L 204, \II 9 306 j 304 .1 U 30m July 2, 1963 B. WALKER 3,095,936

VEHICLE LIFTING AND TRAVERSING DEVICE Original Filed Feb. 17, 1959 I 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 I l l I I I I I I I I ii I 3 Lag flmummmw HEF I .l l ll I I I July 2, 1963 B. WALKER VEHICLE LIFTING AND TRAVERSI NG DEVICE I Original Filed Feb. 17, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 IN V EN T02E July 2, 1963 B. WALKER 3,095,935

VEHICLE LIFTING AND TRAVERSING DEVICE Original Filed Feb. 17, 1959 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Z9 Iz Z "U 10 10s 12/ ma /f llllllllllllllll lll' United rates 3,tl95,936 VEEHCLE LETENG AND TRAVERSING DEViE Brooks Walker, 128% Columbus Ave, San Francisco 11, Calif. Original application Feb. 17, 1959, Ser. No. 793,929. Bivided and this application let- 6, 1960, Ser. No. 71,853 3 Qlairns. (Cl. 18tl-i) This invention pertains to vehicle lifting and traversing devices of the general type covered by my issued US. Patent No. 2,136,570, wherein the transversely mounted spare wheel or other suitable transversely mounted ground-engageable element is lowered by engine power and raises the wheels at one end of the vehicle. A drive from one of the rear wheels or the drive mechanism to the rear wheels rotates the then ground-engaging wheel to swing the elevated end of the vehicle to the right, or to the left by normal forward and reverse vehicle transmission control, and the swing or rotation of the vehicle about a pivot at the forward end of the vehicle is checked or stopped by the use of the regular wheel or drive-shaft brake. The rear wheels are elevated from the roadway, and one of them which is not held by the brake rotates in driving connection with the spare wheel as the car is being moved sideways.

This application is a division of application Serial No. 793,929, filed February 17, 1959, which was a continuation of application Serial No. 416,156, filed March 15, 1954 and since abandoned.

One import-ant improvement in this invent-ion over the prior art arises in a novel way of driving the spare wheel from one of the rear wheels while setting the service brake on the other rear wheel, or otherwise automatically stopping one rear wheel and having enough gear reduction in the drive to the spare wheel so that the rear of the car will swing to the right or to the left much slower than it would go forward 01 backward in the same gears and same engine speed. This allows more control in swinging and requires less friction on the drive from one rear tire than if a drive such as shown in my US. Patent No. 1,990,150 were used.

Another object of the invention is to provide a drive from the ground-contacting surface of one of the rear tires to drive the spare wheel, for the rubber of the tire tread is better suited for driving a power-takeoff roller than is the rubber on the side of the tire, which was used heretofore. If the drive is taken at a surface lying on the diameter of a roller and taken from the ground-contacting surfaces of the elevated rear tire with an axis of notation of the roller parallel to the rear wheel axle, there will be less slippage and abrasion of the rubber on the roller and rear tire than where the axis of rotation of the roller lies at a substantial angle to the axle of rotation of the vehicle wheel against which it bears for driving contact.

A further object of the invention is to provide hydraulic means for stopping or setting the brake on the rear wheel not doing the driving, so that operator-controlled driving control will be provided from the vehicle-lifting hydraulic system as soon as there is hydraulic pressure exerted to lift one end :of the vehicle on the spare wheel; otherwise, the rear of the car might start rolling sideways on a side slope, if the drive to the rear wheel or drive shaft were not connected firmly to the spare wheel until the rear of the car was almost fully lifted on the spare wheel.

Another object is to provide manual means for rendering the actuation of the rear-tire-contacting wheel inoperative during the lifting operation, so that the rear tire can be removed easily when raised on the spare-tire-supporting mechanism for tire change, mounting chains, repair work. etc.

3,95,936 Patented July 2, 1963 ice Another object is to provide means for rendering inactive the setting of the brake or mechanism for stopping that rear tire which is not driving the spare tire, to enable rotation of said rear wheel when elevated, to facilitate tire change, installation of tire chains, etc.

Another, and one of the main, objects is to pnovide a design that can be attached to automobiles of current design with substantially no body or chassis changes except those common to continental mounts, and to utilize power 0 steering fluid pressure to actuate the raising and lowering of the lifting and traversing device.

Other features of the invention will be more particularly pointed out in the accompanying specifications and claims.

I have illustrated my invention by way of example in the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a view in rear elevation and partly in section taken inside the spare tire at the rear of a vehicle at section 1-1 of FIG. 3, showing one form of the invention, with the spare tire elevated.

FIG. 2 is similar to FIG. 1, but showing the mechanism in the position to elevate the rear vehicle wheels.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view, partly cut away, of the invention shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2.

FIG. 4 is a top plan view on a reduced scale of a portion of the rear of a vehicle partly cut away and showing another form of the invention.

FIG. 5 is a view in side elevation and in section of a portion of the rear of a vehicle, showing the form of the invention illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, the section being taken along the line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 6 is a view in rear elevation and in section on a reduced scale, taken from slightly behind the rear axle and showing another form of the invention, with the spare wheel raised.

FIG. 7 is a view similar to FIG. 6 with the mechanism in the rear wheel elevated position.

FIG. 8 is a plan view, partly cut away, of a rear corner of a vehicle showing another form of the invention.

FIG. 9 is a plan view, largely cut away, showing another form of the invention.

FIG. 10 is a cut away view in section taken along the line 1ti-ld in FIG. 5, showing a portion of the vehicle.

FIG. 11 is a view in side elevation and in section of the rear portion of the vehicle taken along the line 1111 of FIG. 3.

FIG. 12 is a diagram of the hydraulic system.

In all figures like numerals of reference refer to corresponding parts.

In FIGS. 1, 2, 3, and 5, I have shown a vehicle frame 19, rear axle 8, springs 7, rear Wheels 5, and spare wheel 4. The spare Wheel 4 is movably mounted on a frame 39 which is pivoted in bearings 51 and 52 that are secured to a bumper extension 50 attached to the side member of the frame 10. The frame 39 is braced by a diagonal member 30b. A hydraulic cylinder 20, which is actuated by engine-driven hydraulic power, as shown in my cited US. Patents 1,990,150 and 2,136,570 and application Serial No. 343,110, now abandoned, is employed to raise the car on the spare wheel 4 by means of fluid entering line 21, while fluid pressure .on a line 22 is used to retract the spare wheel 4- to the inactive position shown in FIG. 1. The end of the piston rod 20a associated with the hydraulic cylinder 20' is connected to the frame 30' near the lower end of a brace 30a. The other end of the cylinder 2%} is pivoted at 2% to a bumper extension 12. 7

All the mechanism for mounting the spare wheel frame 30 and the drive for the spare wheel 4 is mounted on the other bumper extension 50 to facilitate installation and reduce costs. A small wheel 40 is rotatably mounted on an axle 4-1 to which is secured a V-pulley 40a. The V- pulley drives a V-belt 9 entrained over idler pulleys 4-9 supported on an A-frame 46. The A-frame 46 is pivoted to the spare wheel frame 36 by pivot pins 4611. One end of a rod 46a is pivoted around the axle 41, and the other end is pivoted to the A-frame 46. Idlers 49 are set at an .angle to each other to align the belt 9 leading from said idlers to a larger drive pulley 6 attached to a small gear 6a, which is rotatably supported on the frame 30 by a shaft 6b mounted on the frame 30. The gear 6a meshes with a gear 4a, which is secured to an extension of the spare hub 422; so the spare wheel 4 can be removed in the usual manner for tire change.

The axle 41 is hung from two bars 42 and 43, which are pivoted above the axle 41 in a bearing 44 mounted on a rigid bracket 53 of the bumper extension 54 The bar 42 has an extension 42a which rnakes a bell crank with the bar 42 about a pivot shaft 44a, and this extension 42a is connected to a crank 61 by a link 62 (see FIGS. 1 and 2). The link 62 is connected to a torsion bar 66'. The extension 42a rotates about the shaft 44a in the housing 44, while the crank 61 rotates with the torsion bar 69 at right angles to the shaft 44a. The torsion bar 651 has a; rear crank arm 61in. The arm 66a is normally engaged to the under side of a lug 63 attached to the spare wheel mounting frame 30; so the torsion bar 60 rotates with the frame 30 to rotate the crank 6-1. The crank 61 pulls down on the link 62 and bell crank 42a to move the axle 41 to where the wheel 40 is into contact with the rear tire tread as the spare wheel 4 is lowered and, after conhold hooks 75 retracted. This construction allows a link 70 to move forward as soon as the spare Wheel 4 and frame. 30b move down, so that books 75a engage lugs 8a on the axle 8. A spring 76 urges the double hook arms 75 forward so that the hooks 750, can engage the lugs do on the rear axle 8 to lift the axle 8 with the body.

A spring compresses between link elements 70 and 70a to prevent damage to the link 70', the bell crank 72, and

their associated pivots, brackets, lugs and other parts in case the axle 8 is hanging on the arms 75 when the wheel 4 is raised and pulls link 70' back. The power ofthe cylinder 20 and the weight of the axle 8 and the pressure of the suspension means between the axle 8 and the frame 10 are too great for disengagement of the hooks 75a in certain rare instances, such as when the rear of the vehicle is raised on a frame jack after the vehicle has been previously raised on the spare wheel, and then the spare wheel 4 has later been raised or retracted to its FIG. 1 position. Thus the spring 71 is necessary when after the spare tire 4 is in the position shown in FIG. 2 and the car is lifted on a hoist or jack, and the spare wheel is then retracted to its FIG. 1 position, because under those circumstances the hooks 75a cannot be retracted, and the link 70 and bell crank 72 might be bent.

The rear wheel at the right as viewed in FIG. 3 is stopped from rotation as the vehicle is lifted on the spare wheel 4 by a cylinder 84 (FIG. 3) pulling on a brake cable 81 through its piston rod 83 and a link 82a to a clamp 82. Fluid in a line 86, which causes the piston rod 83 to retract, is connected to fluid in the line 21 that controls the lift of the car; so the brake on the rear wheel at the right of FIG. 3 is set as soon as the car starts to lift. A line 87 is connected to line 22 and carries fluid which extends the piston rod 83 so that the cable 82a will be slack and will not interfere with the brake when the spare wheel 4 is retracted. In case it is desired to remove or work on this rear wheel 5 when it is elevated on the spare mechanism 30, a link 84a is pivoted to the cylinder 84 and actuated by a rod 841) so that a lug on the link 84a engages a shackle 82b on the rod 83 to intercept the end of piston rod 83 before lifting on the spare wheel 4, to allow free rotation of this Wheel 5.

When this is done, the spare Wheel 4 should be blocked as no drive or brake control will exist without the braking of this wheel. The vehicle is lifted on a crutch 30 which is plugged into an arm 30d and retained and located by a pin 30: which, in turn, is fastened to the crutch 30 by a chain 3%. A hinged base 30g may be necessary for ground contact. The crutch 39 is only used when it is desired to remove the spare tire 4 or to rotate it without swinging the car. A hold up hook 15 is normally caused by a spring 16 to engage a roller- 30m on the frame 30, but the spring 16 is readily overcome by the cylinder 20 and the frame 30 is then pushed beyond the hook 15 for lowering under pressure.

In FIG. 4 I have shown another method of moving the small Wheel 40 into contact with the rear wheel 5. A hydraulic cylinder 90 has its piston rod attached near the axle 41, and the other end of the cylinder 90 is pivoted to a bracket 50a of the bumper-extension 50. A line 91 is connected to the line 21; so lifting pressure will move the wheel 40 into contact with the wheel 5 by pivoting on arms 45a and 46 about the bearing housing 44 on the bracket 53 of the bumper-extension 50 during the lifting operation. The wheel 40 is retracted when the spare wheel 4 is retracted, as a line 92 is connected to the line .22; so fluid pressure acting in the lines 92 and 22 retracts the spare wheel 4 and the wheel 40. The other rear wheel 5 is locked by a brake shoe 98 through action of the cylin- 'der 95 (both mounted on the bumper-extension 12), by

the line 91 being connected to the line 21. A lock link 6 is actuated by a hand control 97 to prevent the shoe 98 from engaging the wheel'5 when its tire is to be changed, etc. a

In FIGS. 6 and 7 I have shown a hydraulic cylinder 121 pivoted at its top to the cross member 10a of the frame 10.

A spring 127 urges the cylinder 121 toward a boss 128 at the center of the rear axle 8; so a hook 124 on the end of .a piston rod 123 will engage the boss 128 when the spare wheel 4 starts down. A cable 125 goes around a pulley 126 and goes to the bell crank 72, which slacks the cable 125 when the spare wheel 4 starts down and tightens the cable 125 as the spare wheel 4 reaches its inactive position. A line 122 is connected to the line 21; so lifting pressure will lift the rear axle 8 after the spare wheel 4 contacts the ground. Therefore, the rear of the vehicle will not 'have to be raised as much with this construction to get a given ground-to-rear-tire clearance.

The piston in the cylinder 121 may be pushed down either by a spring 121a or by hydraulic pressure in a line 129, which is connected to the line 22. Hydraulic pressure in the line 122 will retract the hook 124. This last hydraulic connection of a two-way hydraulic cylinder does not take as much oil as the single hydraulic acting piston would take from the power steering reservoir, if the power steering pump is used for raising and lowering the spare wheel 4. FIG. 6 shows the cylinder 121 in the inactive position, and FIG. 7 shows the cylinder 121 lifting the axle 8 for rear wheel road clearance when the rear of the vehicle is supported on the spare wheel 4. The action of the springs between the rear axle 8 and the frame 10 is small gear 137, and the spare wheel ring gear 4a. The .cylinder 90 swings the wheel 40 into or out of contact with the rear tire 5 as the spare wheel 4 is lowered or raised respectively, in a manner similar to that shown in .FIG. 4 except that some of the bearings that support the wheel 40 must be universal to allow some swing of the axle 41 during action of the cylinder 9t). The gear box 134 is supported for swinging motion on a link 1.35 attached at one end to a gear box 134 and at the other to the cross member 19a. This eliminates the cost of a spline on the shaft 131. This drive eliminates the belts shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3, and may be more positive.

In FIG. 9 I have shown another drive in which a bevel gear 1122 is mounted on the spline end of a rotating differential gear housing tilt; outside its right hand hearing. A cover 104 provides a power take-off and mounts :a bevel gear 185. A cylinder 14% actuates the bevel gear litinto engagement when lifting pressure in the line 21 acts on a line 141 to shift the gear 185 into mesh with the gear 102 or engages a jaw clutch between the gear res and universal 1%. A spline 1117 drives a shaft 103, a universal 1G9, and the spare wheel 4 through an axle 1 12 which is bearinged at 111 to the movable spare-tire-su-pport frame 30. This construction would require a tunnel in the luggage compartment for the shaft 1% in the spare wheel 4 raised position. The shaft 1&3 could be connected to a small gear (similar to the gear 137 of FIG. 8) at the bottom of the ring gear 4a to stay under the luggage floor. This provides a very simple positive spare tire drive from a power takeofi as far back on the vehicle as practical with a resulting short low speed drive shaft 1%. Possibly the shaft 168 turns at spare wheel rotating speed like a rear axle to provide equal speed in swinging the rear of the car to the right or left as when moving forward or backward in the same transmission shift with the same engine speed.

Other features of the invention will be more particularly pointed out in the accompanying claims.

To those skilled in the art to which this invention relates, many changes in construction and widely differing embodiments and applications of the invention will suggest themselves without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. The disclosures and the description herein are purely illustrative and are not intended to be in any sense limiting.

I claim:

1. An automotive vehicle comprising a frame supported on front and rear wheels; a lifting and traversing device on said frame incorporating a spare wheel adjacent to and rearward from said rear Wheels; an enginedriven hydraulic pump supported by said frame; hydraulic means on said frame for lowering said spare Wheel into contact with a roadway, for lifting the rear end of said vehicle on said lowered spare wheel so that the vehicle can be traversed thereon, for lowering said vehicle, and for raising said spare wheel out of contact with said roadway, separate hydraulic means on said frame and acting against one rear wheel for restraining said one rear wheel against movement, means communicating with said pump and in open communication with both said first mentioned and said separate hydraulic means for the simultaneous actuation of both said hydraulic means and the holding of said one rear wheel against movement when said spare wheel is in firm contact with said roadway just before said Vehicle is lifted.

2. A vehicle having a rear end with a rear wheel, a brake on said vehicle for said rear wheel, a lifting and traversing device for the rear end of said vehicle carried by said vehicle, a device carried by said vehicle for automatically setting said brake when said rear end is elevated on said lifting device, and manual means carried on said vehicle for rendering said automatic device ineffective when said rear end is lifted to facilitate removal of said rear wheel.

3. An automotive vehicle comprising a frame supported on front and rear wheels; means on said frame for driving and braking said rear wheels; alifting and traversing device on said frame incorporating a spare wheel adjacent to and rearward from said rear wheels; an enginedriven hydraulic pump supported by said frame; hydraulic means on said frame for lowering said spare wheel into contact with a roadway, for lifting the rear end of said vehicle on said lowered spare wheel so that the vehicle can be traversed thereon, for lowering said vehicle, and for raising said spare wheel out of contact with said roadway, separate hydraulic means on said frame and acting against one rear wheel for restraining said one rear wheel against movement, means communicating with said pump and in open communication with both said first mentioned and said separate hydraulic means for the simultaneous actuation of both said hydraulic means and the holding of said one rear wheel against movement when said spare wheel is in firm contact with said roadway and during the complete lifting operation as Well as the traversing operation, so that the driving and braking contact on the other rear wheel controls the traverse during the lifting as well as in the fully lifted position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,816,543 Michelin July 28, 1931 1,895,134 Rice Jan. 24, 1933 1,990,150 Walker Feb. 5, 1935 2,005,173 Walker June 18, 1935 2,473,338 Kilmer June 14. 1949 

1. AN AUTOMOTIVE VEHICLE COMPRISING A FRAME SUPPORTED ON FRONT AND REAR WHEELS; A LIFTING AND TRAVERSING DEVICE ON SAID FRAME INCORPORATING A SPARE WHEEL ADJACENT TO AND REARWARD FROM SAID REAR WHEELS; AN ENGINE DRIVEN HYDRAULIC PUMP SUPPORTED BY SAID FRAME; HYDRAULIC MEANS ON SAID FRAME FOR LOWERING SAID SPARE WHEEL INTO CONTACT WITH A ROADWAY, FOR LIFTING THE REAR END OF SAID VEHICLE ON SAID LOWERED SPARE WHEEL SO THAT THE VEHICLE CAN BE TRAVERSED THEREON, FOR LOWERING SAID VEHICLE, AND FOR RAISING SAID SPEAR WHEEL OUT OF CONTACT WITH SAID ROADWAY, SEPARATE HYDRAULIC MEANS ON SAID FRAME AND ACTING AGAINST ONE REAR WHEEL FOR RESTRAINING SAID ONE REAR WHEEL AGAINST MOVEMENT, MEANS COMMUNICATING WITH SAID PUMP AND IN OPEN COMMUNICATION WITH BOTH SAID FIRST MENTIONED 